Hell that will be TEOTWAWKI!! Might as well develop telepathic communication. Come to think of it, evolutionarily that may be why we're so socked into information exchange; I suspect those who grow up playing wild-ass video games and cruising the Internet will greatly expand their brains and their ability to process huge terrains of data and extrapolate rich information from small signals, the ultimate case of which is telepathy.

I went to Whitehorse on the WP&Y railroad and a really swell guy bought me drinks and I bought this gold claim he had. Well, it turned out that he owed a little money on it and the debt went with the mine. It was something about mercury and arsenic and water, but I've never been quite sure about it. And there was something about the title, too. Anyway, the RCMP came and I barely managed to escape their clutches. I did get back to Juneau and I took the ferry to Sitka, where I am now. But last night a warrant from the Yukon was served at the...well, they say it's a hotel...where I'm staying and I had to promise pay the money wtihin 30 days. So I've taken this job on a salmon boat as a "slimer" and a second job as a skullgrinder. If anyone would like to help get me out of durance very vile, please send money. Lots of money.

Loathe though I am to disturb the perfect tranquility of an 8700 post count, I feel it is impertative to share withy out he LATEST BREAKTHROUGH from the strange land of QUANTUM MECHANICS. Or maybe it is quantum anti-mechanics. Whatever:

"Even the most ignorant cannot know less than nothing. After all, negative knowledge makes no sense. But, although this may be true in the everyday world we are accustomed to, it has been discovered that negative knowledge does exist in the quantum world. Small objects such as atoms, molecules and electrons behave radically different than larger objects -- they obey the laws of quantum mechanics.

The discovery, that quantum knowledge can be negative was made by three researchers, Drs Michal Horodecki, Jonathan Oppenheim and Andreas Winter, of the Universities of Gdansk, Cambridge and Bristol. Their work was published in the leading scientific journal Nature on August 4.

What could negative knowledge possibly mean? "If I tell it to you, you will know less," explained Dr Andreas Winter.

Such strange situations can occur because what it means to know something is very different in the quantum world. "In the quantum world, we can know too much," added Dr Oppenheim, "and it is in these situations where one finds negative knowledge." Negative knowledge (or more precisely ? 'negative information') turns out to be precisely the right amount to cancel the fact that we know too much.

In the quantum world, there are things we just cannot know, no matter how clever we are. For example, we cannot know both the position and momentum of a small particle exactly. One can also have situations where someone knows more than everything. This is known as quantum 'entanglement', and when two people share entanglement, there can be negative information.

While all this might appear to be very mysterious,Dr Michal Horodecki is quick to point out that the idea of negative information can be put on a rigorous scientific footing. "We can quantify information in terms of how much stuff I need to send you before you get to know something. In the case of negative quantum information, you can get to know something without me sending you any quantum particles. In fact, you will gain the potential to learn more quantum information in the future." "

There you have it folks -- the key to all our perplexity about human mental illness, obsessive compulsive disorder, manic Republicanism, and even the incomprehensible W factor: NEGATIVE KNOWLEDGE!!

I have always believed that the ability to know is a clear indication that there is more to the mind and soul of human beings than the mere electrochemical wetware they use as a damper for their potentials, a muffler and shock absorber. But now that quantum mechanics has revealed the presence of an anti-particle to knowing itself, I am deeply shaken.

The discovery, that quantum knowledge can be negative was made by three researchers, Drs Michal Horodecki, Jonathan Oppenheim and Andreas Winter, of the Universities of Gdansk, Cambridge and Bristol. Their work was published in the leading scientific journal Nature on August 4.

Pardon me, Amos, but

Well, DUH!

George W. Bush is the walking breathing illustration of this, and they only figured it out now? Where have they been, in a cave in the wilds of New Guinnea for the last six years?

Now Mag, it is quite understandable. They did not imagine -- and how could they -- that Quantum Mechanics and G.W. Bush could be mentioned in the same breath. You can't blame them for being a bit intimidated. Bush recently entertained 12 people who had one Presidential Citations for academic achievement from notable universities all over the country; after months of security screening, they came together in the Oval Office carefully briefed not to speak unless spoken to, to stand a certain distance apart, no overcoats or handbags.

In the presence of this illustrious group of advanced thinkers, the President gave a brief statement on how "his faith was really important to him". And then chatted about the carpet on the floor which his wife Laura had designed to "be a happy thing" with rays and a sun in the corner...He asked none of them about their work advancing human knowledge.

They were all underwhelmed, I don't mind saying. I have this report from one who was there.

Here's how you solve your problem, Rap. First, you have to go before a judge and prove that you're from Idaho. Then, you convince him/her that it's extremely unfair for you to have to settle up in Alaska dollars since everybody knows the cost of living in Alaska is outrageous. Agree to pay the equivalent amount based on a formula comparing Alaska's and Idaho's costs of living. Give them $3.97 and go home.

I think they were trying out them prototypes on those flights outta Area 51, looping down over Texas and back, some years ago. Very hush hush but it definitely had to do witht he anti-knowledge particle. They had to worry about what to hold it in, fer fear the pilots would be too dumb to bring their multi-billion dollar stealth bombers back to base.

watched a program last night - according to a husband and wife research team in Wales - both who profess to be Druidic , the reason human cultures have dragons is a genetic memory combining instinctive reactions to snakes, predatory birds and big cats.

I thought mother would be interested in this discussion, in light of MMario's borrowing of a brain cell:

"Although the literature is dominated by the idea of a single centre of consciousness, the alternative idea of more than one centre of consciousness is not new. As indicated, William James considered a pontificial polyzoism very seriously and implied that the idea had a long tradition. However, in a democratic polyzoism there is no single 'me' cell; in at least some parts of the brain there may be millions that have the experience of being me. This has the advantage that it is consistent both with James's fundamental requirements for binding and with the apparently distributed nature of consciousness. It is also very compatible with the 'holographic' aspects of consciousness described by Pribram (1991) in the sense that a version of the 'experiential story' is distributed widely throughout the brain.

If one neurone benefits from sentient pattern-based processing why not all? I suspect that 99% of what goes on in my brain is decided on somewhere other than the site of any subjective viewpoint that I see it from. This 99% is termed unconscious, but a lot of the clever things that brains do emerge from this unconsciousness. It would be easier if, rather than being unconscious, these events were in other cellular consciousnesses, or at least sentiences. This would resolve a problem with Penrose's (1994) masterly argument that conscious thought is non-computable; that the best thoughts often seem to surface from somewhere else. "

Wal, Miz Sage, I dunno much about the art but my unnerstandin' is that purling two is the inverse of knitting one. Reminds me of a song I once knew about some yarn, but they don't sing it much annymore fer some reason. Is that what you use for crocheting? Or is it some special stuff?

It was a means to all that wanted a means to really believe that the crotch was a means to find the end of an era that wasn't forgotten but mearly lost in the shuffle of the cards of the sKeptics to retrieve and lose in a deal of a harmonica solo that nearly lost my mind but was never found in the lost and found file of life. I might not ever begin to really repeat that whole thang again so if anyone questions my mobility or my lucidity,:::It just may be a question lost in the ozone of MOAB, ::::::::never to be repeated or seen again::::::::Amen:;

I thought it was an interesting article. Aren't you glad that she was able to sort out her sexual dysfunction? That she found men who were willing to take the time for her and not just treat her like a sexy receptacle? Or are you worried about the RFK end of things? Is this different than if it was JFK? And aren't you glad to know that even though they divorced, DiMaggio and Monroe still felt love and respect for one another?

I posted another, more thorough article over on the same thread. Interesting stuff.

Sorry to envision your salmon woes, BWL. I hope everything is in good running order now. You have to stop defrosting that frozen fish on the countertop. Immerse the package in cold water or put it in the fridge for a day to thaw.

I am over my momentary depression about Marilyn. The idea of Her free-associating to penetrate the unconscious while lying at home in only a bra just kinda wrapped the whole thing up for me. I am better now.

Thanks for your concern, Maggie, but the salmon post was not autobiographical. Yes, I did cook salmon patties tonight but I felt no ill effects whatsoever. It was canned salmon anyway and the patties were delicious. Better'n Spam.

The last words of this monarch bold Were not bequeathing his lands or gold But warning them all against clergyman cold! The King of the Cannibal Islands!

Oh, by the way, they have foundthose naughty black holes they couldn't find. They were hiding in dust-couds, perturbating. Such carryings-on!

"VORACIOUS BLACK HOLES HIDE THEIR APPETITE IN DUSTY GALAXIES, August 05 A UK-led team of astronomers reports today (August 4th) in Nature that they have tracked down an elusive population of black holes growing rapidly hidden behind clouds of dust. Their results suggest that most black hole growth takes place in dusty galaxies, solving astronomer's headaches, as until now, the cosmic x-ray background suggested the existence of more growing black holes than they could find."

Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news5650.html

Really, I sympathize. Certain trends in my own life, also, have led me to suspect the existence of more black holes than I can find. Vacuuming doesn't seem to help...

Sitting upstairs I hear the jars popping, like a 'vacuum' seal. This also has nothing to do with crotches or black holes or salmon patties.I do have a pondering thing going on though... That would be squeegees. Where did that word come from? I'm thinking from the sound a squeegee makes but I don't believe it. Maybe it's squeezing water and someone said, "Gee-this thing squeezes water-gee, that's pretty cool shit."Then if that where true it should be called a squeezewatergee.Squeegee is almost as weird as spatula.